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Arizona Tea Party Leads Fight Against Military Detention of American Citizens.

By Ralph Lopez - Posted on 04 December 2011

The time to bury our differences for a day is now. Arizona "Tea Party and conservatives" have announced a protest action at Sen. John McCain's home office in Tuscon. They demand the elimination of the provisions passed by the Senate last Thursday, in the National Defense Authorization Act, which allows for the indefinite military detention of Americans without charge or trial. McCain and Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) are the lead co-sponsors of the proposed law.

The office of every senator who voted for this could use a visit, which means all of them except the Patriot 7 who voted no: Jeff Merkley [D], Tom Harkin [D], Ron Wyden [D], Thomas Coburn, [R], Mike Lee [R], Rand Paul [R], and Bernie Sanders [I].

"Legislation passed by the Senate this week and headed for the House – and a possible presidential veto – could allow the US military to detain American citizens indefinitely.

The National Defense Authorization Act covering $662 billion in defense spending for the next fiscal year includes a provision requiring military custody of a terror suspect believed to be a member of Al Qaeda or its affiliates and involved in attacks on the United States. A last minute amendment allows the president to waive the authority based on national security and to hold a terror suspect in civilian rather than military custody. But the bill would deny US citizens suspected of being terrorists the right to trial, subjecting them to indefinite detention, and civil libertarians say the amendment essentially is meaningless.

“This bill puts military detention authority on steroids and makes it permanent,” Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. “If it becomes law, American citizens and others are at real risk of being locked away by the military without charge or trial.”

"Tea Party Patriots and Conservatives Protest Senator John McCain's National Defense Authorization Act in His Home Turf, Tucson, Arizona"

"Tucson, AZ, December 02, 2011 --(PR.com)-- "Tea Party patriots, conservatives, and Republicans in Senator John McCain's district take a stand for liberty," says Jeff Bales, organizer of a Tea Party inspired protest scheduled for Monday in Tucson, Arizona. The protest addresses Senator John McCain, co-author of the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act. Similar protests are scheduled to be held by conservatives in various locations in the United States.

The National Defense Authorization Act allows for any U.S. citizen to be held by U.S. military for an indefinite period of time, with no Constitutional due process. The Senate Armed Services Committee, led by Senators Carl Levin (D-Michigan) and John McCain (R-Arizona), approved the bill with provisions for military detention of any suspect. That includes citizens in the United States, accused of involvement (no proof needed) in terror-related offenses. In Mr. Bales' opinion, military detention could include citizens accused of simply lying to a federal agent, unrelated to actual terrorism but classified as related to terrorism.

"Many protesters scheduled to participate in Monday's Arizona-based event are Republicans and conservatives that refuse to accept the progressive, big-government agenda established by their Republican Senator, John McCain. When it comes to personal liberty and violation of every citizen’s Constitutional rights, Republicans are willing to take a stand against one of their own if a major mistake has been made," says the protest's host, Jeff Bales, a Member-at-Large of the Pima County GOP Executive Committee."

RECALLS OF U.S. SENATORS

18 states have public official recall laws. A few, like Rhode Island, specifically exclude federal officials, although this can be changed by the state legislature, and recall laws can be passed by the states. AZ has laws where you can recall anybody. Laws governing recall are defined in Article 8 of the Arizona Constitution. According to Ballotpedia:

"The authority to conduct a recall election in Arizona applies to "Every public officer in the state of Arizona, holding an elective office, either by election or appointment." A recall can be filed against any public officer on any grounds."

More generally, recall of federal officials is a relatively untested area of law, with only a few vulnerable test cases so far, like Idaho. The ultimate basis for recall of senators and congressmen is the Tenth Amendment. Although recall of federal elected officials is not provided for in the Constitution, the Tenth states:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Proponents of recall laws for federal offices argue that if the Founders meant to prohibit such laws, it would have been clearly stated in the Constitution. Instead the Constitution says that all powers not expressly prohibited by the Constitution are reserved to the states and to the people.

Cut and past the National News Media emails in the lists below into youroutgoing email box and send them this .

------------------------------------------------------Why ? Are You Not Reporting on this Very Important Change in U.S.Federal Government policy toward it's U.S. Citizens that used to be thatunder the U.S. Constitution that Citizens could Not be arrested by theU.S.Military, But now they can and with No Charges and held Indefinitely!

It could Not hurt to add a few Choice words of your own to the emails.Possibly letting them know that in the Pledge all Americans take ingoing into the military, Becoming police officers and becoming electedofficials that goes.Paraphrased"I swear to defend the U.S. Constitution against All enemies Foreign orDomestic.

That passing DNAA S.1867 has made the U.S. Government The DomesticEnemy and do they want to be a Domestic Enemy also ?

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